Courtyard garden design for enclosed spaces.
Courtyard garden design from your own photo – lush, sheltered planting that turns a small enclosed courtyard into an outdoor room, with a real planting plan to build it.
First design free · no card needed · UK plants
Turning a courtyard into an outdoor room
Courtyard garden design makes the most of a small, enclosed space – often shaded by walls, but sheltered and warm because of them. The aim is a lush, green, layered room: climbers softening the walls, bold foliage filling the corners, and a focal point that draws the eye. Get it right and a tiny courtyard feels like the best room in the house.
Garden Design App reads a photo of your real courtyard and redesigns the planting to suit it, keeping your walls, paving and any existing features where they are – so the scheme fits the exact space and light you have.
The plants that make the look.
The planting plan lists them in full, with how many to buy and where each goes – so the garden in the picture is one you can actually plant.
Tree ferns
instant lush, exotic height for a sheltered corner
Ferns
cool green texture that thrives in courtyard shade
Hostas
big, bold leaves that fill a shady bed fast
Climbing hydrangea
greens a shady wall with lacecap summer flower
Star jasmine
evergreen climber with intense summer scent
Acers
a graceful specimen in a pot as a focal point
Camellia
glossy evergreen and early flower for a shaded wall
Fatsia
architectural evergreen leaves that love enclosure
Hakonechloa
soft golden grass to cascade over pots and steps
Heuchera
year-round leaf colour for the front of a bed
Japanese anemones
elegant late colour for a shady courtyard
Box or evergreen balls
clipped structure to anchor a small, enclosed space
Lush, shade-friendly planting
Enclosed courtyards are usually shadier and more sheltered than open gardens, so the planting leans on lush foliage, evergreen structure, scented climbers and a few shade-loving flowers for lift. The planting plan names the full list, with how many to buy and where each one goes.
From idea to a plan you can plant
When you find a design you love, unlock its professional planting plan: every plant named, how many of each, exactly where it goes, and a month-by-month flowering calendar so your courtyard looks good all year.
Professional garden designers often charge over £1,000 for this. Your first design is free, so you can see your own garden reimagined before you spend anything.
Good to know.
Everything people ask about courtyard garden design.
How does the AI garden design work?
Upload a photo of your garden or a single border, and tell us what you'd like: refresh your borders, keeping your garden's shape, or redesign the whole space with new layout, paths and planting. Pick a style, and we generate a photorealistic redesign of your actual garden. When you love one, unlock its planting plan – every plant, how many to buy, and where each goes.
Are the plants real – can I actually buy and plant them?
Yes. Every design can become a planting plan of real, available UK plants, with quantities, each plant's mature height and spread, where it goes and a month-by-month flowering guide. The plans are built on real horticultural data and shaped by a professional gardener – not generic AI guesses – so the garden in the picture is a garden you can genuinely plant.
Do I need a special photo or camera?
No – a normal phone photo is perfect. Photograph your whole garden if it's small and simple, or one border at a time for larger or more complex gardens, where each bed has its own light and soil.
Is the first design really free, and what does it cost after?
Your first design is genuinely free, with no card required. After that, subscriptions start at £19 a month. The professional planting plan is a separate one-off you only buy if you want to make a design real.
Other garden styles.
Your courtyard garden is one photo away.
See it redesigned in about two minutes. The first one's on us.